'One's subconscious actions are a product of their belief & self.' This is Kuroto's firm belief.

Uchiha Hiiragi's aura is a reflection of his pride in his kenjutsu skills and his trust in his blade, the same pride and trust are what makes him want to take risks while in combat. ​​

He may have never even noticed this, however, Shisui was well aware of this habit.

And small details such as this are sometimes the key to victory!

After the first clash with Hiiragi, Kuroto took the initiative to retreat with the intention to fight him using the terrain of the small forest.

...swish… swish… swish…

Another thick tree was cut off by Hiiragi's sword.

Counting this one there have already been more than 10 big trees that have been brutally attacked by him.

Along with the smoke and dust that rose from the falling of the tree, Kuroto successfully dodged another one of Hiiragi's attacks.

Frustrated by Kuroto's continuous dodging, Hiiragi shouted in anger, "Coward! Do you only know how to escape?"

Kuroto calmly replied, "Do you only know how to cut trees?"

"Why you little…!!" Hiiragi was speechless at Kuroto's retort.

Seeing Hiiragi going silent Kuroto didn't continue to ridicule him but concentrated on coping with Hiiragi's ferocious attacks.

In Kuroto's understanding, Hiiragi is indeed an elite of the Uchiha. Even without the use of genjutsu and ninjutsu, his strength is definitely a Jonin class, with Kenjutsu alone combining with the dynamic vision of the Sharingan.

Honestly, Kuroto doesn't really have an effective method to win against Hiiragi without using Kazekage puppet or using Rein Wheel Interaction. If not for the information that Shisui sent him beforehand, he isn't even sure whether he can compete against Hiiragi.

So, Kuroto's tactics are quite simple for this battle, and that is dragging it out as much as possible!

As the duration of the battle will continue to increase, Hiiragi will start getting impatient and reckless.

Similar to most Uchiha; Hiiragi is also not a very patient person, as such his mood started to get worsen and unstable because of Kuroto's continuous dodging.

As a result of which, Hiiragi's movements started getting flawed, and these flaws allowed Kuroto to fight back.

But Kuroto was in no hurry.

He firmly believes in the information Shisui sent him, but he believes in his eyes even more.

There was another game of chase, the two: one attacking while the other dodging, left behind the already messy practice range, and arrived at the calm lake nearby. The villagers washing clothes by the lake were surprised and shouted in a panic.

Standing on the lake Kuroto said while struggling to catch his breath, "It… wheeze… it seems you are better than the last guy."

Hiiragi shouted in anger, "You bastard who only knows how to hide isn't qualified to judge the Uchiha! …cough-cough…"

Hiiragi coughed violently, as Shisui described, Hiiragi's low physical strength is his weakness, and the high-intensity battle just now was burdensome for him, coupled with the fact that his impatience is only making the physical exertion on him greater due to madly chasing after Kuroto.

Seeing that the time was ripe, Kuroto said with a mocking smile, "Hide? I am again surprised at your shallowness!"

This time Kuroto took the initiative to attack without waiting for Hiiragi's reply.

As Kuroto took the initiative, Hiiragi raised his guard and immediately slashed his sword at the incoming Kuroto.

The calm lake was stirred by the momentum of the two; resulting in high rising waves all around as they fiercely fought against one another.

In the concentrated state of battle, this time Kuroto could feel that Hiiragi's moves were getting messier by the second, the errors in his moves were continuously increasing, although the killing intent in his every move was as fierce as ever, however, just having fierce killing intent isn't enough to kill people.

Opportunity!

Opportunity!

Opportunity!

In his field of perception, Kuroto continuously discovered Hiiragi's flaw.

But Kuroto was still not in a hurry, he has to be patient, he wasn't just looking for the chance to defeat Hiiragi, but in fact, for an opening to take away Hiiragi's short sword.

Kuroto's objective is to completely crush Uchiha Hiiragi's confidence, and only by breaking his pride would Hiiragi accept defeat.

So, the game of chasing continued, until not long after, an opportunity appeared.

Without any hesitation to let the chance pass by, Kuroto immediately locked his palms into a fist and went for a strike at Hiiragi's chest, and just according to his expectation, rather than choosing to back away, Hiiragi chooses to recklessly attack him, with an up to down vertical sword slash.

Seeing Hiiragi's slow-moving action with Tenseigan, Kuroto smiled sinisterly: "Sure enough, he likes to take unnecessary risks!"

Suddenly, the fist about to strike changed the direction of its momentum and hit the opponent's wrist holding the sword, loosening the grip, while his other hand took away the sword.

The entire process happened in milliseconds.

After grabbing the short sword, Kuroto immediately backed away, leaving the stunned Hiiragi who was looking at his hands in a daze.

Kuroto was really impressed by the sword in his hands and faintly said, "It is indeed a fine sword, it's a pity that its master isn't good enough to showcase its true abilities."

"You…!"

However, before Hiiragi could retort Kuroto threw back the sword while saying, "You lost!"

The stunned Hiiragi couldn't deny Kuroto's words and left the lake in a fit of rage.

Not long after, Shisui appeared next to Kuroto and asked calmly, "How did it go Kuroto-san?"

Because Uchiha Hiiragi's strength is very high, Shisui wasn't confident enough to trail the other party without being noticed, so, he couldn't watch the entire battle like last time with Uchiha Shinichi.

Kuroro nodded, "Fortunately it went well, but I have to say that Uchiha Hiiragi is very strong. If not for the fact that he agreed on a pure taijutsu battle, the result might have been a little different."

Although Kuroto looked calm and indifferent during the entire battle as if he didn't put Uchiha Hiiragi much in his eyes, in fact, without using the Kazekage puppet and Rein Wheel interaction, this is his limit.

If Hiiragi hadn't agreed on a taijutsu battle then the result would have been the opposite.

Shisui smiled and selectively ignored Kuroto's last words.

"It's inconvenient to use some techniques in the village, if the next opponent is stronger than him, I am afraid I wouldn't be able to win."

This is completely true.

Although Kuroto did manage to win, it was only because the opponent agreed to the style of combat that's Kuroto's strong suite, if the Uchiha sent a stronger Jonin, then he isn't sure if he can win.

Listening to Kuroto's words again, Shisui hurriedly promised, "Please don't worry Kuroto-san, I am sure the Elders wouldn't send anyone for some time because of Hiiragi's defeat."

The reason Kuroto accepted Shisui's request to accept Uchiha's challenge in the first place, is to increase his combat experience and also increase his personal reputation.

Although the Uchiha are isolated and suppressed, their reputation is still the highest. Konoha shinobi may not speak this openly, bet they subconsciously revere the Uchiha as the elites. Using the Uchiha as his stepping stone can be regarded as the most efficient and safest way to become famous and get on the good side of the Hokage Clan.

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